JD Vance slams German laws criminalizing online speech as 60 Minutes praises their 'civility'

60 Minutes Sharyn Alfonsi spoke with German officials in an interview that aired Sunday night on free speech turned to criminal speech and the penalties for making posts on social media. German officials laughed as they talked about confiscating people's phones and laptops over social media posts, joked about the excessive fines, said "free speech needs boundaries" and advocated for criminal charges against a citizen who calls a politician a "dick" in a social media post.

"Insulting someone is not a crime, and criminalizing speech is going to put real strain on European-US relationships," Vance said. "This is Orwellian, and everyone in Europe and the US must reject this lunacy."

Alfonsi said that amid the "aggressive lies, threats and harassment" prevalent in online speech, "where anonymity has emboldened users to push the limits of civility," Germany is "trying to bring some civility to the world wide web by policing it in a way most Americans can never imagine."

German authorities "have started prosecuting online trolls," she said. 60 Minutes embedded with German cops as they raided a citizen's home in the early morning hours, arresting a man and taking his phone and computer. His crime? Posting "a racist cartoon" online. His home was searched by six armed officers. "Prosecutors say those electronics may have been used to commit a crime," Alfonsi explained. 60 Minutes did not show the carton so it remains unclear just what he was arrested for saying.

More than 50 raids just like this one were carried out across Germany simultaneously in what Alfonsi said is "a coordinated effort to curb online hate speech." It's a crime in Germany to insult somebody in public and it's a crime that is more heavily penalized to insult someone online. "The fine could be even higher if you insult someone on the internet," one official told Alfonsi, "because in internet it stays there." 

"Malicious gossip, violent threats, and fake quotes" are among those things that are illegal in Germany. One man was prosecuted for calling a politician the German equivalent of a "dick" online. When asked about how Germans react when they discover that their devices have been taken by officers, three officials interviewed by Alfonsi laughed. 

At least 750 Germans have been prosecuted for saying things online. Some of those alleged crimes are false quotes or just insults against political leaders. In Germany, if it's not constructive and "contributing" to the discussion, it's just not legal to say it. This has had a chilling effect on speech, which is, of course, the point, which was, of course, Vance's point when he gave his speech on Friday at the Munich Security Conference. 

In his speech, Vance pointed out laws against silent prayer inside citizens' own homes in Scotland, bans on silent prayer near abortion clinics in the UK, and Sweden's prosecution of Christians burning the Muslim holy book the Quran—all in the sake of not offending someone. He noted that the US has had recent problems, notably around the Covid pandemic. Then he said: "Just as the Biden administration seemed desperate to silence people for speaking their minds, so the Trump administration will do precisely the opposite, and I hope that we can work together on that. In Washington, there is a new sheriff in town, and under Donald Trump’s leadership, we may disagree with your views, but we will fight to defend your right to offer it in the public square, agree or disagree."